4/04/2008

Final Fantasy and Hayao Miyazaki

For the April '08 Roundtable (see http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/ for more details) the chosen subject is “Variations on a Theme” asking what you find unifies all your favorite games. I have some thoughts on game mechanics, music, and art, but since it's what really fires me up, I'm afraid I'm going to limit it to story here.

I've written a little bit about the fundamental concepts I'm a fan of, but I'm going to push all that aside, and talk about an archetype. That archetype is: the main female character of the Japanese RPG. I know what you're thinking, “That's too vague to be an archetype”. Well, permit me to explain. Obviously, not all characters can be lumped into this category, but you'd be surprised what it does cover.

Imagine the following character: A woman, fairly young, of noble birth. She possesses some combat prowess, but doesn't enjoy fighting. She is often lost in thought, and is more passive and introspective than those around her. She is not terribly secure in herself and her abilities at the beginning, and frequently this insecurity is defused in the form of her being huffy. She is not that physically strong, but is very intelligent. When she fights, she tends to use magic, but beyond the magic that many people have, it is suggested that she has some special power that remains largely untapped for a majority of the game. When she is forced to bring this power to bear, you discover that it is very different from anyone else you've seen so far, and that that power is primarily used for healing, rather than conflict.

It's possible there are more I've missed (these are just from games I've played), but the point is made. Very few of these entries are perfect: Terra doesn't really affect the outcome of the final few hours of the game with her powers, Marona isn't of noble birth, and Schala isn't actually the main female character, but the correlation is far too significant to deny. This is an archetype that Japanese game makers have relied on since I was a young boy playing games.

It's possible that, pointing out the similarities between these characters, some of you feel cheated, like the conceptual design for the later characters was lazy, not bothering to design a new character, and merely re-hashing old concepts. I, for one, do not feel cheated at all. I am a big Joseph Campbell fan, and strongly believe in the power of archetypes in storytelling. Just because a game tells the same story we've heard a thousand times before (redemption, love, triumph over evil), it doesn't make it any less satisfying when we see it. Likewise, just because we've seen Terra in the orphanage, holding the kids in her heart, doesn't make it any less touching when you see Elly slice open her finger to feed the monster at the wels plant.

Much of good storytelling, storytelling that provokes a cathartic release, is based on the power of these characters that bypass all issues of particularity in a story. We want a fresh and interesting take on a character, but unless it ties back to something that we can understand, and relate to in our lives, the emotional power is lost.

So then, perhaps you are willing to grant that something like this has always existed in some form or another in storytelling, but I hardly think that Jung elucidated the “Japanese RPG Female Character” archetype in so many words. So then, when did this combination of the warrior, wise woman, mother, and priestess begin? I have my theory, but I welcome all thoughts on the matter.

In 1982, as a part time job, Hayao Miyazaki started drawing a comic about a Princess of a small country in a post apocalyptic world. The manga was called Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, named for the minor character from the Odyssey. Miyazaki cited two primary inspirations for the character, Bernard Evslin's translation of the Odyssey, which expanded on the original princess's character significantly, and a Japanese story of an insect loving princess from somewhere between 800 and 1200 in Japan. Nonetheless, Miyazaki's portrayal of this character (and later in the 1984 movie of the same name) is the first record I can find of this archetype. She is born as the princess of a periphery country, and is skilled in the use of arms, but has a strong pacifist streak. She is thoughtful, introspective, and seems to exist on a mental level separated from all those around her. Finally, though the manga and film differ on this subject significantly, she is clearly possessing of some sort of quasi-supernatural power that allows her a deeper understanding of the world around her.

So, what does this mean? Since I'm such a strong believer in the power of archetypes, it only seems appropriate that I want to know what archetype I'm appealing to when I write, and even more, know what the history of that archetype is. To do otherwise seems something like trying to write a monster movie without watching the original Godzilla...

I've only played so many games, so if you know of any really good examples, or want to hear my reasoning for any of my 17 examples, leave me a note or drop me a line.

10 comments:

I have a lot of random comments, so I'm going to invoke the age-old technique of the bulleted list:

* Another example of your archetype exists in Star Ocean 3, though that's hardly worth mentioning because that game sucks.

* I don't think Mist really fits. She has no combat prowess, she's a minor character at most, and there are other characters in that game that I think fit the archetype better, namely Elincia. You should play the sequel on Wii, because the main character of that game fits the archetype to a T.

* There are other archetypes for female RPG characters, so you might consider changing the name to something else.

In general, though, I think you did a really good job of pointing out similarities between a lot of different games, and I agree that it couldn't possibly be just a coincidence between all of them.

William, have you looked at Japanese folklore and mythology to see how pervasive this archetype is in throughout their past? It'd be interesting to know if their other storytelling media has a similar thread running through it as well.

Celtic and Norse tribes had strong ties to the female warrior poet and a great many culture believed in triple aspect goddesses representing maiden, mother and crone.

Also, I encourage you to find a more descriptive name for the archetype. In particular, one that doesn't limit it to Japanese video games. The Warrior Princess has a nice ring to it and allows for slight variations in the theme.

Hehe, a great sum up of the trope of some Japanese RPG female characters.

I love linking to the TV Tropes wiki, it helps sum up some of the commoner ones. The closest might be "Staff Chick":

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StaffChick

Fun stuff, and you might be right about the inspiration for where the archetype comes from, although I don't play many JRPG's so I can't comment on how common this type of character is, usually most JRPG's highly repeat character traits instead of, well, making them proper characters.

You could probably do a good parallel to JRPG protagonists too - almost always male, big swords, amnesia, etc. etc. - it'd be interesting to know where that archetype originated!

1. Mist, I say, still fits the bill. If you'd allow me to nitpick, she has no combat skill because you didn't promote her. The reason why I picked her over Elincia is her ability to hold onto the talisman, which the game establishes that no one else can do. But true enough, Elincia suggests the archetype as well.

About the name of the archetype, all ya'all are EXACTLY right. The name doesn't work at all.

Finally, I don't know enough about Japanese folklore to say, but I had a conversation with a friend of mine, who made a very convincing case that this archetype represents the sensible, non-sexist extension of the woman's role in Japanese culture. That's quite a bit of a statement to make, so I'll have to back it up in more detail in my next blog post.

I'm not sure where Corvus is going with the Triple Goddess thing. I don't think this is an instance of that so much as more of a she-bear sort of thing. Correct me if I'm wrong, since this area of games isn't my forte, but the archetype in question doesn't really have any connection to the character's aging (she's generally young), her stage of life, the powers of death (other than her ability, as do all combat-capable characters, to kill people), or wisdom acquired through age or experience. There's a sense of coming of age, or coming into her power/self more fully, but not really of transitioning through life stages.

I included reference of the three-as-one goddess in response to this question, "So then, when did this combination of the warrior, wise woman, mother, and priestess begin?"

While the triple goddess often has three bodies, to see those bodies as being interchangeable between the essences that inhabit them is a pretty common theme. And it's not much of a stretch to imagine blending them into a single marketable character for a video game either, no?

However, I do think Warrior Priestess or Warrior Princess are better labels. Warrior Mother doesn't strike me as terribly accurate, given the youth of the characters. Also, don't they tend to be virginal and inexperienced in the ways of the world at the outset of the game?

Personally, I think I'd go with Warrior Maiden as name of the archetype. They often are royal, but not always, and they are often holy, but again not always. But they are always young, and as I've written about this month (and am a bit annoyed by:), these are often coming of age stories, not just for the boy-hero, but also for the Warrior Maiden who accompanies him.

I know this is true of the later games that I've played (Yuna springs to mind, as well as Aeris).

FWIW, I prefer not Warrior Princess since that brings to mind someone else who really doesn't fit the archetype:)

So, who's H. T. Parnell?

H. T. Parnell was the proprietor of Tarant's one and only emporium of wonders in Troika Games' Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. I selected it not as an example of the best game I know of, but as an excellently concieved, very poorly executed game, praised for its wide variety of choices, and surprisingly non-linear gameplay. The perfect example of a flawed and buggy game, saved by an intriguing system, and excellent writing.